Just had Surgery Done..mixed feelings..please help

bull**** she should sue the pants off that MOFO

I know right now what you need is support and there are many people on this board that can provide that for you but may I ask, did your surgeon tell you how many DS's he has done?  As far as I know he is not a DS surgeon, I have not heard of a surgeon in Houston that does the DS.  I am very afraid that he told you he would give you the DS, knowing he could not do it and gave you the RNY because he wanted your money.  God I hope I am wrong, to think a human being would do that.  Not that the RNY doesn't work, that is not my point, but that he would lie to you like that.  Please let us know how many DS's he has done, get some references or something.

Kristi, there are two DS surgeons in Houston to my current knowledge.  Dr. Ferrari and Dr. Wilson.....neither have performed many, "inexperienced at this time" IMO.

First and foremost..thank you ALL for your support and kind words. I honestly have been feeling the great words you all have given me today. I am embarassed to say that I was really moved. I have not told a lot of people that I was doing the surgery..it was a personal choice...a lot going on with me personally. But in any case I APPRECIATE it all. Thank you!

Ok...my Doctor is licensed and is crediable. He was Physician of the Year 2008 for Memorial Hermann...and I did a lot of research and wanted him to be my doctor.

I am not the type to sue a person...unless it is an extreme case. I will be bringing this up to him again on my post opt visit which will be in a week. If I feel that there is an issue with my results..of course I will address it then. But I do believe him when he said I had a lot of scar tissue due to my pregnancies..because I had two really big babies all delivered C-section. I gained a hefty 150 lbs from both pregnancies and I am only 5'4".

I am going to give all of this time..im a newbie and I have to have a lot of patience. With you all here; I believe I can do this..

Thank you

My surgeon has done 1600+ DS surgeries and I once flat-out asked him if "scar tissue" had ever prevented him from completing a DS.  IT HAD NOT.  Not once.

I hate to say this to you honey, but I think your surgeon just wasn't skilled enough to give you what you wanted.  A good DS surgeon would have worked through your scar tissue.

Hi California Mom,

While I wanted to be encouraging in my previous post to you, and while I had a great experience with Dr. Ferrari, I do want to apologize to you for not being sensitive to the fact that you did have a surgery you didn't ask for. And that would not sit well with me or many other people either.

I don't know all that you discussed with Ferrari and the potential of not being able to do the DS and just doing a RNY. If that was never discussed, I can understand how shocking that must be to you.

I will certainly keep you in my prayers.

Take care,

Carolyn

In my 7 years on this site, I have never once heard of Ferrari as a DS surgeon.  Never.  I suspect "bait-and-DON'T-switch" and I would consult with a medical malpractice lawyer ASAP.

Did you provide informed consent agreeing to an RNY if he felt it was necessary?  He'd better be able to provide that, as well as PROOF he couldn't perform your DS, including why he didn't give you just a VSG (why would your previous pregnancies have had anything to do with performing the stomach part of the DS?) with an option to later try the switch?  I would think you might have found that preferable to getting your stomach turned into a pouch.

Honey, I am so, so sorry. You got a bait-and-don't-switch doctor. Is there anything you signed at the hospital that would have given him this kind of "discretion"? If not, then you may want to think of either suing him or reporting him to the medical board. I'd report him anyway, whether or not you want to press anything else. He shouldn't be able to get away with this. I don't care that the RNY is the "gold" standard. The DS is the "platinum" standard and you should have gotten what you asked for, barring serious problems. I mean, I had adhesions from my tubal ligation that my surgeon spent about an hour cleaning out and I was able to get my DS just fine. Your surgeon was just plain incompetent if he pulled that on you.

I hope you're able to make the most of what you have. But I want to empathise with you and let you know that we DSers are here to give you moral support. *Hugs*

You know what..I just sent an email to his assistant and I will see what she says. You are right..Duodenal is the platinum..with more effective results. I was ok with it earlier..but I think I may have to bring it up to my insurance carrier as well..seeing that they are paying for the bill.
*SIGHHHH*..This really sucks...

good for you for checking things out.  no one is telling you you HAVE to sue or anything.  but you have to live with this for (potentially) the rest of your life.  RNY does in fact have a higher failure rate than the DS - if (god forbid) your surgery fails you, won't you be wishing you'd dug into exactly what happened?

i wish you all the success with this, but you should be upset (it's not about which surgery is better, it's about your lack of choice - this wasn't an emergency life saving procedure where he had to make an on the spot call).  i would be furious.